RED SORGHUM Movie Review

A stunning visual and narrative achievement, this extraordinary film from China—the directorial debut of the gifted Zhang Yimou—succeeds on every level. Set in rural China in the 1920s, the sweeping plot—comprised of equal parts romance, comedy, drama, and horror—is the story of a beautiful young woman (Gong Li) who arrives at a provincial winery betrothed to one man but in love with another. The widescreen color images of Zhang's epic conjure the punch and resonance of stories told by John Ford, Sergio Leone, Sam Peckinpah, and Akira Kurosawa, but with a uniquely eloquent emotional control. Despite the relatively modern setting of the story, the significance of the year in which it is set only begins to sink in during the harrowing last third of the film, when the brutal Japanese invasion suddenly takes place. Red Sorghum is a knockout—one the most auspicious debut films in cinema history. Grand Prize, Berlin Film Festival.

NEXT STOP … Ju Dou, Once Upon a Time in the West, Ride the High Country

1987 91m/C CH Gong Li, Jiang Wen, Ji Cun Hua; D: Zhang Yimou; C: Gu Changwei. VHS NYF